If you’d like to win at the dog track, you have to be able to see things that the average bettor doesn’t see. There are all kinds of little tricks that can turn a so-so handicapper into a very good handicapper.

One of them is being able to know when a dog is going to run out of character. If everyone else is expecting a dog to break, but you know that it likely won’t in this race, you’re way ahead of the game, aren’t you?

But how can you tell what a dog is going to do in any particular race? And don’t greyhounds always run with the same style? Why would a dog that gets out quickly, fail to do that in a race?

One reason for speed dogs being slower to start in some races is because they’re outclassed. If the other dogs get out much more quickly than they do, some dogs don’t even try.

They just go through the motions of running the race, like you’d probably do if you were playing basketball with the Celtics. What’s the point of running your heart out to catch a lure that you know the other dogs are going to catch first?

Not only are classier dogs faster, they’re also smarter and can get around other dogs better than lower class dogs. So, the dog that usually gets out ahead of the pack and leads the way doesn’t.

The crowd is shocked and some of them even think that there’s been a substitution. Not likely. More likely that the dog is smart and doesn’t waste its energy trying to beat the stiff competition.

It’s the same with closers. At the end of the race, if they’re outclassed, some of them just stay behind the leaders without even trying to pass them at the end of the race.

Look for situations where dogs are outclassed and you won’t be surprised by this scenario. I do it by looking through the program for races where one or two dogs that break are way outclassed by the other dogs.

Many times, in spite of the class difference, the crowd will make a breaker a favorite or second favorite. If you know this little secret, you can save yourself some money by not betting dogs that are outclassed.